Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland on the Orinoco River, 1800-1804 (1900). In 1800-1804, together with the French botanist Aime Bonpland (1773-1858), the Prussian naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) explored the Orinoco and Amazon regions of South America, collecting 60,000 plant specimens.